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THE RIGHT-TO-REPAIR MOVEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN IMPLICATIONS: A FOCUS ON THREE INDUSTRIAL SECTORS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2023

Michael Saidani*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
Alicia Kim
Affiliation:
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
Madeline Kim
Affiliation:
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
*
Saidani, Michael, CentraleSupélec, Université Paris-Saclay, France, [email protected]

Abstract

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While products get more challenging to repair, the right-to-repair movement aims to empower consumers in their ability to “use, modify, and repair” a device “whenever, wherever, and however” they want. Here, the best design practices and remaining challenges of three industrial sectors – namely, consumer electronics, biomedical devices, and clothing industry – are investigated in light of the right-to-repair movement. Based on literature reviews and industrial surveys, a SWOT analysis is provided for each sector, and sustainable implications for product repair readiness are drawn. Concretely, recommendations to design, develop and sell products with right-to-repair in mind are given by sector. Future directions for a more quantitative assessment and implementation of design for product repair are discussed to ensure the augmentation of the circularity and sustainability performance of products.

Type
Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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